The leader of the British Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has again come under criticism after she admitted that attending a Federal Government Girls College, Sagamu, Ogun State, was a prison experience for her.

Badenoch, who is known for denigrating Nigeria, despite being raised in Lagos State, the South-Western part of the country, again stated her distaste about what she described as ?maltreatment and forced labour? when she shared her experience of being given a machete to cut grass and buckets to fetch water in the school.

Born in Wimbledon, London, in 1980, she spent most of her childhood in Nigeria and the United States before returning to the UK at age 16.

She is one of the last people to have received birthright citizenship in the UK before it was abolished by Margaret Thatcher?s government in 1981.

Speaking in a recent viral clip, she noted that her experience was drawn from the ?Lord of the Flies? book, stressing that the students were in control.

?I went to a secondary school, it was called a Federal Government girls? school in a place called Sagamu. And that was like being in prison when I tell the stories about using a machete and having to fetch buckets of water.

?And that was the first time that I was away from home, away from my family. It?s a federal boarding school. And it was a dormitory with about 150 (girls), I think, 20 to 30 in a room. And there were, you know, six rooms.

?The machete was for cutting the grass. Well, because who else is going to cut the grass?? she said.

This is not the only Badenoch smear remark about Nigeria and her people; however, in this report, PUNCH Online draws out some other comments that the popular Conservative Party?s leader has made about the country.

I don?t identify as a Nigerian

On August 1, 2025, while speaking on the Rosebud podcast with Gyles Brandeth, she disclosed that she had not renewed her Nigerian passport in over 20 years and no longer identifies as Nigerian, despite her ancestry and upbringing in the country.

?I?m Nigerian through ancestry, by birth, despite not being born there because of my parents, but by identity I?m not really.

?I know the country very well, I have a lot of family there, and I?m very interested in what happens there,? Badenoch said.

I grew up in Nigeria, a place where fear is everywhere

Badenoch, while giving a speech at the UK Conservative conference in October 2024 to run for the leader of the party, noted that she grew up in constant fear, living in Lagos with her parents.

She said, ?I was born here (UK), but I grew up in a place where fear was everywhere. You cannot understand it unless you?ve lived it.

?Triple checking that all the doors and windows are locked, waking up in the night at every sound, listening as you hear your neighbour scream as they are being burgled and beaten, and wondering if your home would be next.?

My children can?t be Nigerians because I?m a woman

Badenoch, in an interview with CNN?s Fareed Zakaria, launched a blistering critique of what she termed the ?exploitation of tolerance? in modern Britain by saying that her children cannot get Nigerian passports because she is a woman and her nationality cannot be automatically transferred to her offspring because of her gender.

?Not all cultures are equal,? Badenoch declared. ?Cultures where child marriage is normal, where gay people are killed, where women are treated as second-class citizens ? those are not equal cultures. And I will not accept that.?

?This is exploitation of a system that was not designed for this sort of thing. You have to be honest about that. So you say to somebody who?s coming from Nigeria and wants to create a little mini-Nigeria in Britain ? ?No, that is not right.? And Nigerians would not tolerate that. That?s not something that many countries would accept.

?There are many people who come to our country, to the UK, who do things that would not be acceptable in their countries. It?s virtually impossible, for example, to get Nigerian citizenship. I had that citizenship by virtue of my parents.

?I can?t give it to my children because I?m a woman. Yet loads of Nigerians come to the UK, stay for a relatively brief period of time, acquire British citizenship. We need to stop being na?ve.?

*Britain may face consequences similar to those seen in Nigeria if?*

The conservative leader, while making a comparison between the United Kingdom and Nigeria in her first speech of the year 2025, warned that Britain could face consequences similar to those seen in countries with ?terrible governments? like Nigeria if reforms are not enacted.

?And why does this matter so much to me? It?s because I know what it is like to have something and then to lose it,? Badenoch told the audience.

?I don?t want Britain to lose what it has. I grew up in a poor country and watched my relatively wealthy family become poorer and poorer, despite working harder and harder as their money disappeared with inflation.

?I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father?s last ?100 in the hope of a better life. So I have lived with the consequences of terrible governments that??

Nigeria police stole my brother?s wristwatch, shoes

On December 14, 2024, Badenoch, sparked another controversy about Nigeria when she shared her negative experiences with the Nigerian police.

In an interview with The Free Press, the British politician was asked whether she trusted the British police.

Responding to the question, Badenoch said, ?I do. My experience with the police in Nigeria was very negative, and coming to the UK, my first experience with the police was very positive. The police in Nigeria would rob us.

?I remember the police stealing my brother?s shoes and his watch. It?s a very poor country, so people do all sorts of things.?

When Nigeria mattered to Badenoch

Despite all her spiteful remarks, Badenoch had sometimes presented herself as a great card-carrying citizen of Nigeria, especially when she contested to be a legislator for Dulwich & West Norwood in the 2010 UK general elections; she needed Nigerian votes to achieve that.

Therefore, she associated with Nigerians, moderated her language, pushed her Nigerianness and sought the support of Nigerians.

?As you know, I?m running for parliament in the 2010 UK general elections for Dulwich & West Norwood. The race is very tight?. There are just about 20 days to go before polling day, and Nigerians have been fantastic. My immediate circle of friends, ex-schoolmates, their friends, and all our families have really rallied around and been supportive ?.

?Like you, I am sick and tired of reading that Nigerians are fraudsters, terrorists, bombing aeroplanes, or slaughtering each other in places like Jos?. I am asking for your help now to support a Nigerian who will improve our national image and do something great here?.

?This is a chance to have someone with real influence over British-Nigerian relations. It will not be about personal gain. For regular updates, please join my fan page here and my ?Nigerians for Kemi? mailing list by clicking here or email me for more details and forward this to as many Nigerians as you know. ? Kemi,? she wrote on her social handles in 2010 during the campaign. (Channels TV)

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